Rising from humble roots, Sir Francis Walsingham is a model of a certain type of Elizabethan figure, thriving at an innovative court that preferred service by men of talent rather than by the high ...

Elizabeth I, Sir Francis Walsingham, and the Birth of Modern Espionage By Stephen Budiansky Viking. 235 pp. $24.95 At her trial in 1586, the doomed Mary Queen of Scots challenged her chief accuser, ...

British historian Cooper’s biography of Elizabethan spymaster Francis Walsingham is as thrilling and suspenseful as any modern spy novel. Plumbing both primary and secondary sources, Cooper deftly ...

As the nation's relationship with Europe deteriorates and civil unrest grows, Elizabeth I's spymaster, Sir Francis Walsingham, adopts extreme tactics to keep his queen and country safe. Set in a world ...

AS England’s first spymaster and an assiduously loyal public servant, Sir Francis Walsingham was devoted to keeping Elizabeth I in power by any means necessary, be it spreading misinformation, paying ...

Francis Walsingham served Queen Elizabeth I as ambassador, secretary, security chief and spymaster. Among the biggest threats to the sovereign’s safety were the recurrent Catholic plots to replace her ...